Colombia

Gauging a Volcano's Threat

Greg Valentine heads the Center for GeoHazards Studies, which is helping to raise awareness about the risks a volcano in Colombia poses to surrounding inhabitants.

“There’s a city of about half a million people at the foot of the volcano, and several smaller villages on the flanks. Our end goal is to produce an assessment of the risk of this volcano that is tuned to the needs of stakeholders.”

Greg Valentine

Center for GeoHazards Studies director and professor of geology

The Colombian city of Pasto, population 400,000, sits at the
foot of Galeras Volcano. Several small villages also flank the
mountain.

Despite a history of violent eruptions, many locals say they
don’t fear the giant in their midst; explosions have only
claimed a handful of lives.

But Galeras is a threat, and UB’s Center for GeoHazards
Studies is working to improve disaster preparedness by helping
residents better understand how vulnerable they may be.

Since 2009, the center has been partnering with Colombia’s
government and Pasto's Universidad de Nariño to bring
community representatives, scientists, political leaders and
emergency responders together to discuss the danger Galeras
poses.

The short-term objective is to create trust between parties and
give locals a voice in decision-making.

The end goal is to produce a risk assessment showing how
volcanic activity could affect surrounding communities and the
things they prize—not a simple task, says center director
Greg Valentine.

"If we talk about risk in our culture, it's typically in terms
of fatalities or economics," Valentine explains. "But other
cultures don't necessarily value the same things we do."

"One of our stakeholder groups at Galeras is an indegenous
people who, culturally, are very strongly tied to the land," he
says. "They want to know about risk in terms of their connection
with the land, which may be more difficult to quantify."